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4 Ways To Save Money on Road Trips

Whether you travel a few hours or take a week-long adventure, it’s always nice to save some money. Here are 4 cost cutting tips from McGrath Auto!

Tune Up

Get a Vehicle Tune-Up

Even though tune-ups require you to put some money into your vehicle, it’s a financially smart decision in the long run. If you do not take action to maintain your car, it will result in costly and damaging results.

If your car was to act up or break down while on the road, you may have to pay for a tow truck or have to stay an extra, unexpected night at a hotel to wait for your car to be repaired. These expenses could use up a lot of your emergency travel funds and most importantly take time away from your fun vacation!

How to Save Gas

Optimize Your Gas Mileage

Everyone knows that gas prices are expensive. These tips will help you optimize your vehicle’s gasoline usage so you can use that money for more traveling:

Buy gas at the coolest times of the day — like early mornings and late evenings — since it is least dense at those times. Gas stations measure fuel by volume, not density.

Driving with the air conditioner on when driving on the interstate makes the vehicle more aerodynamic.

Use cruise control on the interstate and deactivate it when the roads are hilly.

Eating at restaurants, fast food joints, gas stations and convenience stores for every meal on your road trip is expensive and unhealthy. By packing the food that is already in your fridge will help you eat the food before it goes bad and it will save money.

Also, it might be a good idea to stop at a grocery store if you will be staying at a hotel. Getting food and snacks at a store is less expensive than going out to restaurants.

Safety First

Rushing or driving carelessly can result in car accidents, which is both expensive, time-consuming and life threatening.

When your car is at a quarter tank of gas, its smart to just fill up. It may be a while till you come across the next gas station if you are driving through corn fields or mountains.

Try to stay at a safe hotel to help keep you, your family and/or friends, belongings and car stay safe and undamaged.

If you ever have any questions relating to cars, contact and visitMcGrath Auto! We have ten locations throughout Eastern Iowa – Cedar Rapids, Coralville / Iowa City, Davenport, Dubuque and Hiawatha, IA!